DIGGING SWEDEN- Good & Bad

For the last few years I have been privileged enough to visit the great city of Gothenburg each summer to spin and this has provided me the opportunity to indulge myself in one of my favorite pastimes, digging for vinyl!

This time around I have treaded myself to an extended trip as my summer holiday (in fact I am still there as I write this) and have had a chance to go a little deeper than usual.

The first spot I hit was Vinylium which is just round the corner from my gracious host DJ Digga's (midnighttraintoahus.blogspot.com) flat. Not a great spot in truth, small & friendly but with not much of a selection although I did manage to pick up a Yellow Orchestra LP. Next Up and still in the area of town called Magorna are Mynt & Musik, Armadilo & another spot I don't know the name of?

Mynt & Musik is a cool spot with a combination of Comics, Books, DVD's, CD's and of course vinyl. As with all of the shops mentioned here the emphasis is on Rock & Pop but there are still fairly decent Soul & Jazz sections, a bunch of 45's and other things to be had if u are patient enough. Here I picked up a couple of nice 45's like George McRae's "Rock Your Baby" with a picture sleeve and a couple of James Brown joints as well as some LP's that you don't often see in the UK but are everywhere in Sweden. One example being the Smokey Robinson's "Deep In My Soul" LP which I had never seen before picking up in Armadillo Records next door but have now seen several times in the other shops.

Across the street in the basement of what looks like a cinema is a big spot dedicated mostly to new music but with a little second hand section in the back where I picked up another copy of the Chicago "Street Player" LP and a Ashford & Simpson 45 as well as an album with a cover of the Shaft theme I haven't had the chance to listen to yet, fingers crossed!

For me though the illest spot in Gothenburg is on Andralanggatan (Second Long Street) also the home to DJ Digga's brilliant Shelta sneaker and clothes shop (www.shelta.eu) as well as a few cool bars and good food spots.

Skivhandel (pictured above) is a big, well organised and friendly shop where the patient digger can find a few gems. I picked up a 12 of Hall & Oats' "Methods of Modern Love" I never knew existed as well as some dope Jazz, Fusion & Disco LPs.

What I was most happy with was a bunch of Hip-Hop and 80's soul 45s that I almost missed out on were it not for the shop assistant pointing out the one section I had missed.

While it is hard to uncover real gems in Gothenburg the two real joys of spending time digging in the city. Firstly how cheap their records are. Although I did go all out and ring my bank manager to ask permission to pay £7 & £8 on a couple of pieces the vast majority of what I bought were all £1. Secondly is a joy I have taken in digging more and more as I have gotten older and is in great evidence in Sweden and that is some of the incredibly bad covers you come across in the crates. Below are just a little selection of just some of the gems I had to leave behind... Maybe next time.